Britam scoops two industry excellence awards
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By Monica MUEMA
Insurance firm, Britam scooped the General Insurance Company of the Year and the Life Insurance Company of the Year Awards by the Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI).
Seven hundred and eighty-three (783) insurance sales agents met the qualifying criteria in 2022 compared to 349 in 2021.
“The event comes at a time when the Association is working closely with its membership to roll out digital platforms that will improve customer service and education, increase efficiency, and reduce fraud,” noted AKI.
Alsr Read: Insurance-firms-fall-short-of-ifrs-17-transition-demands/
It also comes amid concerns and admission by the association that Kenya’s mid-tier and small insurance firms were yet to conform to the new sets of financial reporting standards, three months after the deadline for compliance lapsed.
The transition to IFRS 17 requirement came into effect on January 1, 2023, but we now understand that a number of industry players have not consented to those requirements which seek to provide transparent reporting about a company’s financial position and risk.
Some of the reasons cited for the foot-dragging by some insurers are the high costs of acquiring accounting software and actuarial systems as well as the personnel to manage them.
The implementation of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS 17) was delayed by one year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning the majority of insurers, some of whom are contending with financial liquidity issues, must now have such systems in place.
“With respect to the level of compliance, companies are at different levels and some have not even started due to logistical issues and we can understand why. The small firms have more pressing issues at this time,” offered Gichuhi in a telephone interview yesterday, adding that the level of compliance was about 50 percent since the last market review,” revealed Tom Gichuhi, AKI’s CEO last week.
Some companies with financial stability, according to the association, particularly the listed underwriters have already assimilated such systems and expanded their actuarial departments.
IFRS 17 requires a company to measure insurance contracts using updated estimates and assumptions that reflect the timing of cash flows and any uncertainty relating to insurance contracts.
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